Ilya Sorokin continues tear as Islanders escape Devils with OT win

It’s just three games.

But Ilya Sorokin stacking three strong starts on top of one another, looking more in command of his crease, more confident and more like the player who almost singlehandedly got the Islanders to the 2023 playoffs with each one ought to have the NHL on notice.

After his first shutout of the season on Saturday, the red-hot Sorokin kept the Islanders in it against the Devils on Monday night long enough for his team to turn a sleepy performance into a 3-2 overtime victory over the Metropolitan Division leaders — the first loss New Jersey has taken all year at the Prudential Center — weathering Simon Nemec’s tying goal with 4.7 seconds left in regulation to win on Mat Barzal’s overtime goal.

The Islanders will fly out west for the long-haul portion of this seven-game trip that begins Thursday in Las Vegas knowing that, although they’ve still got plenty to figure out, their goalie can keep them in any game.

In large part because of that, the Isles have just picked up their two best wins of the young season.

What had been a slow-moving game picked up some juice when Cal Ritchie was called for hooking midway through the third, the score tied at one.

Crucially, the Islanders — who had let up a power-play goal barely two minutes into the night — found their legs on the penalty kill and snuffed this one out, even forcing Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom into action to poke the puck away from Jean-Gabriel Pageau on a shorthanded break.